The invention relates to a dispensing compartment for an automatic cash dispensing/depositing machine, having a base and a removal opening which can be closed off by a closure flap.
In an automatic cash dispensing machine, on the one hand, the cash requested by the customer has to be provided so that it can be removed by the customer once the closure flap has been opened. On the other hand, it has to be possible for banknotes which the customer has not removed from the compartment following a certain period of time to be drawn in again. In an automatic cashing dispensing/depositing machine, furthermore, it has to be possible to return to the customer the banknotes which, for whatever reason, have been deemed unacceptable, be this because they are possibly not authentic, they belong to a foreign currency for which the machine is not suitable, they are damaged mechanically or are provided with foreign bodies such as paper clips or adhesive tape.
Performance of the above-described functions requires various high-outlay devices which have to be arranged in the region of the dispensing compartment. In the known automatic cash dispensing/depositing machines, these devices involve relatively high outlay, require a large amount of space and are difficult to adjust and to maintain.
The object of the invention is to specify a dispensing compartment of the type mentioned in the introduction in which the devices which are necessary for performing the above-mentioned functions require less space and are easier to adjust and to maintain.
This object is achieved according to the invention in that the dispensing compartment is designed as a module which can be inserted into the machine, comprising a frame which has the removal opening and, arranged on said frame, the closure flap which can be adjusted between its open position, in which it releases the removal opening, and its closed position, in which it closes off the removal opening, also comprising the compartment base, a stacking device for setting banknotes on the compartment base, a separating device for drawing off banknotes from the compartment base, a first transporting path for conveying banknotes from a first connection location of the module to the stacking device, a second transporting path for conveying banknotes from a second connection location of the module to the stacking device, and a third transporting device for conveying banknotes from the separating device to the first connection location.
The module is a self-contained unit which can perform all the functions described in the introduction. All that is required is for the machine to provide a first connection location, at which banknotes are transported from a banknote store of the machine to the module and/or at which banknotes are conveyed from the module to a banknote store of the machine. Furthermore, it is necessary to provide a second connection location, at which the banknotes rejected during the checking operation are transferred to the module.
The module may be prefabricated as a single unit. This allows a considerably more compact arrangement of the components since they can be better adapted to one another than was the case with the conventional machines. Furthermore, the module may be removed as a single unit for adjustment and maintenance purposes. The individual components are thus more easily accessible and can be maintained and adjusted more easily.
The stacking device may be, in a manner known per se, a stacking wheel which is mounted in the frame such that it can be rotated about a spindle which is parallel to the compartment base.
The compartment base may advantageously be adjusted between a stacking position, in which the banknotes can be set down on the compartment base by the stacking device, and a drawing-off position, in which the separating device can grip the respectively lowermost banknote resting on the compartment base. It is preferable here for the compartment base to be prestressed into its stacking position, with the result that it can be actively adjusted merely in one direction, namely in the direction of its drawing-off position.
Very straightforward adjustability of the compartment base can be achieved in that said compartment base is mounted such that it can be pivoted about a spindle located in the vicinity of the removal opening.
In order to adjust the compartment base in the direction of its drawing-off position, use is made of a pressure-exerting plate, which also assumes further functions at the same time. Said pressure-exerting plate can be adjusted between a stacking position, in which it forms a directing surface for the banknotes running into the stacking device from the first or second transporting path, and a removal position, in which at a distance from the compartment base, and more or less parallel thereto, it at least partially covers the dispensing compartment in the direction of the stacking device, and from which it can be adjusted into a pressure-exerting position, in which it rests on the uppermost banknote of a banknote stack arranged on the compartment base. In the removal position, the pressure-exerting plate thus forms at least part of the top compartment boundary and prevents the customer from being able to reach into the stacking device as he/she is removing the banknotes from the dispensing compartment. In its pressure-exerting position, said pressure-exerting plate keeps the compartment base in its drawing-off position and ensures that the separating device can reliably grip the respectively lowermost banknote of a banknote stack located on the compartment base.
The pressure-exerting plate can preferably be pivoted between its stacking position and its removal position, about a spindle parallel to the stacking-wheel spindle, and can be adjusted in a linear manner, parallel to itself, between the removal position and the respective pressure-exerting position.
In order to control the movements of the pressure-exerting plate, the invention proposes a drive mechanism which has at least one control wheel which is mounted coaxially with the pivot spindle of the pressure-exerting plate and can be adjusted by means of a drive motor between a first end position, which corresponds to the stacking position of the pressure-exerting plate, an intermediate position, which corresponds to the removal position of the pressure-exerting plate, and a second end position, which corresponds to the pressure-exerting position of the pressure-exerting plate, in which the pressure-exerting plate is located next to the compartment base, it being the case that the pressure-exerting plate is coupled to the control wheel via a lever and cam control mechanism such that it is forcibly adjusted as the control wheel rotates from the second end position to the first end position and from the first end position to the intermediate position, whereas, upon movement of the control wheel from the intermediate position to the second end position, the forced coupling between the control wheel and pressure-exerting plate is eliminated. In this region, in which the pressure-exerting plate is intended for resting on a banknote stack located on the compartment base, the pressure-exerting plate is preferably moved under the action of a spring which prestresses the pressure-exerting plate in the direction of the compartment base. On the one hand, this control ensures that the pressure-exerting plate is adjusted reliably between its stacking position and its removal position and is guided back reliably from its pressure-exerting position, next to the compartment base, counter to the action of the pressure-exerting spring; on the other hand, the capacity of the pressure-exerting plate to move freely in its pressure-exerting position and the spring prestressing can ensure that the pressure-exerting plate always presses with a predetermined force on the banknote stack and keeps the latter in engagement with the separating device.
Precise control can easily be achieved in that the drive motor for driving the control wheel is a stepping motor, and in that the zero point for the step counting is established by a position indicator connected to the control wheel.
In order to maintain as compact an arrangement as possible, it is expedient for the pressure-exerting plate not to be made too large. This means that the pressure-exerting plate, in the removal position, may not cover the entire dispensing compartment. For this case, it is expedient for the pressure-exerting plate, for covering the compartment, to interact with a further flap which is mounted in the vicinity of the compartment opening such that it can be pivoted about a spindle parallel to the pivot spindle of the pressure-exerting plate, and which is coupled to the control wheel via a lever/cam control mechanism such that, as the control wheel is adjusted between its first end position and its intermediate position, said flap is adjusted counter to the pivoting movement of the pressure-exerting plate.
Further features and advantages of the invention can be gathered from a following description, which explains the invention, by way of an exemplary embodiment, in conjunction with the attached drawings, in which: